Tergat eyes Chicago Marathon title

CHICAGO (AP) - When Paul Tergat made his marathon debut in London last April, not only was he favored to win the race but there was talk he'd set a world record, too.

Tergat, however, had a simpler goal.

"For me, the goal for my first marathon was to finish, not to go for anything," he said. "Any position was going to be good, any time was going to be good. My main challenge was to finish."

He did finish, running 2 hours, 8 minutes and 15 seconds and placing second to Morocco's Abdelkader El Mouaziz. And now that he's gotten his first marathon out of the way, Tergat has bigger things in mind for the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

"I'm hoping that it will go well and to try to win," he said.

He's definitely the early favorite. Few runners have caused a stir like Tergat has since he moved to the marathon; there was even talk in London that he'd be the first to run 2:04.

Few runners have Tergat's speed, either. He's the former world-record holder in the 10,000 meters and a two-time Olympic silver medalist. He's a five-time world champion in cross-country and has two world titles in the half-marathon.

Last year, he ran the Lisbon Half-Marathon in 59:06, smashing his own world best by 12 seconds.

"I didn't have anything to prove anymore in track, in cross-country, in the 10-K and the half-marathon. So it's the challenge," Tergat said of why he made the jump to the longer distance.

"I feel this is where the real challenge is, the marathon."

Even allowing for some slowdown in the second half, Tergat's pace in Lisbon puts him well in line to chase the world record Sunday. Chicago is one of the fastest courses in the world, the forecast calls for clear, cool conditions, and there are several runners who can push him.

There's former champion Ondoro Osoro, who is running his first marathon since being shot in the neck by carjackers in July 2000; two-time Boston champion Moses Tanui, whose second-place finish in Chicago of 2:06:16 in 1999 was the third-fastest time ever; Peter Githuka, who finished fourth last year; and Joseph Kimani, who was ranked second in the world last year.

Missing, though, is three-time winner and world-record holder Khalid Khannouchi. Khannouchi, who dropped out of the marathon at the world championships, is injured and won't be competing in Chicago for the first time in five years.

"When you look to try to replace him, there was only one gentleman I could think of," said Carey Pinkowski, the executive race director of the Chicago Marathon.

Tergat, he said, "has been a dominant force in athletics and running."

In making the jump to the marathon distance, Tergat's biggest adjustment has been the training.

He's running about 120 miles a week, almost twice as much as what he might do if he were training for a half-marathon. He's also added more speedwork since London.

The speed of the race was one thing that surprised him in London. He expected the pace of the marathon to change gradually. Instead, there were surges like he was used to seeing in shorter races.